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Neanderthals, as the name suggests, were not great thinkers, and consequently their occasional forays into cave drawing left a lot to be desired.<p>But while the dubious artistic prowess of these prehistoric cousins to early humans may not seem of much importance, new research has found it is closely …

Civilization originated in the Fertile Crescent region, including parts of modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Egypt: That's the lesson most of us learned in school.<p>In it, <i>civilization</i> is used in a highly positive way to refer to the rise of city-states and the development of writing …

An ancient virus could be responsible for human consciousness, giving you the ability to think for yourself.<p>New research has linked a human gene responsible for conscious thought to a virus that was spread in the early days of humanity.<p>Two papers published in the Cell journal discuss the origins of …

By raining down laser pulses on some 770 square miles of dense forest in northern Guatemala, archaeologists have discovered 60,000 Maya structures that make up full sprawling cities.<p>And the new technology provides them with an unprecedented view into how the ancient civilization worked, revealing …

Every year brings its own set of pop culture obsessions. Looking at the most popular movie from each year can tell you a lot about what people were talking about at the time, and how people's tastes have changed. It's fun to look at the most popular one from when you were born and see what everyone …

Scientists on Thursday announced the discovery of a fossilized human jawbone in a collapsed cave in Israel that they said is between 177,000 and 194,000 years old.<p>If confirmed, the find may rewrite the early migration story of our species, pushing back by about 50,000 years the time that Homo …

The only woman ever to have ruled the mighty Assyrian Empire, Semiramis titillated writers and painters from the Roman period to the 19th century.<p>Female rulers in ancient Mesopotamia were rare. But those who did rule made their mark on history. In the Neo-Assyrian regime of the ninth century B.C., …

Maybe you got one of those find-your-ancestry kits over the holidays. You've sent off your awkwardly-collected saliva sample and now you're awaiting your results. If your experience is anything like that of me and my mom, you may find surprises — not the dramatic "switched at birth," but results …

With the UN toothless, we must all become more versatile, collaborative and technologically adept in tackling abuses around the world<p>The UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, recently announced he would not be seeking a second term in office. “To do so, in the current geopolitical context, …

Within five years, 15 million people – 80% of the population – were wiped out in an epidemic named ‘cocoliztli’, meaning pestilence<p>In 1545 disaster struck Mexico’s Aztec nation when people started coming down with high fevers, headaches and bleeding from the eyes, mouth and nose. Death generally …